Tag: UFC

UFC Fight Night 112 saw some major controversy in the main event. The fight between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee was anticipated to be a high stakes game between two fighters hoping to enter title contention with a win Sunday night. But instead of everyone speaking on how great the main event was, everyone is talking about Mario Yamasaki’s supposed “flub.”

Been away for a bit and with the limited time I do have, I’ve decided to breakdown a fight that I’m really looking forward to. No disrespect to the other fighters on the card, but by now anyone who has been following my writing knows by now that I’m a full on karate nerd. Rather than try to hide this fact I’m being up front now that my most anticipated fights on the card are centered around a certain karate expert, Justin Scoggins. He draws the scrappy and unpredictable Yuta Sasaki in his return to flyweight.

Demetrious Johnson is officially the man in my book. While many fans may be discrediting him, stating that he’s some kind of coward for refusing to fight bantamweight contender TJ Dillashaw for the flyweight title, it’s hard not to see the champion’s points. It’s easy to sit there and point the finger, especially when you don’t have to do the fighting, but Demetrious Johnson airing out the laundry, namely his treatment by the UFC, is something every fighter and fan deserves to hear.

Well, that escalated quickly now didn’t it. In one of the most anticipated fights of the year, Max Holloway once again showcased his superior ability to perform under the bright lights and in hostile territory no less. But the road to victory was by no means a cake walk for the Hawaiian fighter. Former featherweight champion Jose Aldo gave Max Holloway all he could handle before succumbing to ground and pound in the third round. Let’s get a glimpse at some of the big takeaways from UFC 212 and the fantastic main event that shook up the featherweight division.

Ever since the match up was announced the question has been on the hearts and minds of avid MMA fans: could Max Holloway defeat Jose Aldo? The answer as of now is that there’s no way to be sure. What’s alarming to me however is that many are suggesting that Jose Aldo is over the hill, that he doesn’t have it anymore, something that is clearly the furthest from the truth. The performance Jose Aldo put on against Frankie Edgar was a true work of art and should have at least informed fans of his incredible capabilities that he still possesses. Nevertheless, people just want to see new blood come in and do work and that’s what they’re hoping to see with Max Holloway.

After Sunday’s fights and Alexander Gustafsson’s brilliant performance against Glover Teixeira, the UFC is back with more action with a robust card in Rio de Janiero. While the main event features two of the top featherweights in the world, the co-main event offers up some strawweight action as two former title challengers square off. Claudia Gadelha versus Karoline Kowalkiewicz has all the makings of fight of the night written all over it. Both women fight at a high pace with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. It’s a nice style clash that should offer up some interesting results.

Well, that was both beautiful and hard to watch wasn’t it. Alexander Gustafsson solidified his position as the third best light heavyweight in the world with an absolutely dominant performance over the tough Glover Teixeira at UFC Fight Night 109. It was bloody, it was brutal, and it was a true masterclass in striking. Watching the battle unfold before my eyes, I caught glimpses of pure brilliance from Alexander Gustafsson who lived up to his moniker as “The Mauler” as he showed off is fast hands en route to a knockout victory. There was boxing and kickboxing on full display with some shades of karate mixed in. But not everyone was a fan of Gustasfsson’s style.

I’ve been gone for a minute but I’m back now and I’m ready to dig deep into one of the more anticipated fights of the year. Alexander Gustafsson battles Glover Teixeira right in his backyard, Stockholm, Sweden. While both men have been on the cusp of winning UFC gold, both are still very dangerous fighters with interesting tools in their arsenal. Both are strikers with more than enough capability to switch things up and fight in all different phases of the game. But which one has what it takes to get the W this weekend?

Now, I’ve been going back and forth with this for the last few days and though the fight has already been decided it left me with a pretty interesting question. What exactly constitutes a draw? While we could talk about the scoring system all day, we have consider all manner of thought processes that occur while watching and judging a fight. For a grappling enthusiast it’s easy to say that Demian Maia clearly won and for a striking aficionado that Jorge Masvidal did more damage and deserved the win. But I’m starting to believe that the truth falls somewhere in between.

It’s funny what they say about headlines that end in a question mark. Most of the time the answer to the proposed question will be no and in this case that tends to be my initial gut reaction. But that doesn’t mean that this is a topic that is without merit or one that shouldn’t be explored. In fact, it makes researching and finding the evidence for or against all the more intriguing. So let’s take a moment to really consider whether or not Stipe Miocic deserves the title of the greatest heavyweight the UFC has ever seen.